


Minor Inquiry

by rockethop



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26052829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rockethop/pseuds/rockethop
Summary: Shauna asks Leslie about the nature of her and Ben's relationship during the government shutdown. She accidentally shares too much information.
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	Minor Inquiry

Leslie is elbow deep in yet another rework of her Official Twelve Step Plan to Reopen the Pawnee Municipal Government (official name pending), reading and rereading every sentence and examining every bullet point, trying to anticipate every potential fault that the insensitive assistant city manager could - and would - find so that she can provide him with a proper, smug rebuttal when a knock on her door breaks her concentration. Eyebrows knitting in confusion, she pushes herself up from her dining room table, weaves through the stacks of semi-organized clutter, and creeps onto her tiptoes to peer through her peephole.

“Shauna,” Leslie says with intrigue after opening the door. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi, Leslie. Do you mind if I come in?”

Leslie doesn’t have time to respond before the scrawny woman is making her way through the doorframe and into the house. She watches, taken aback, as Shauna flits around the living room, eyeing the roller skates and newspaper clippings, binders, and other boxes of items that Leslie was too reluctant to throw out, lest the memories wither away along with their removal. Shauna’s manicured finger brushes along a box claiming to contain vintage political campaign memorabilia before she turns on her foot and sets off towards the kitchen, her skirt twirling and swishing as she walks. Dumbfounded, Leslie closes the front door with a faint clink and sighs.

“What’s up, Shauna?” Leslie asks, more polite than she feels. “Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Coffee? Tea?”

“Oh, no, that’s fine. Thank you.” Shauna smiles meekly and shows a mug - one of Leslie’s own - to her. When Leslie looks to her coffee maker, sure enough, one of the mugs she keeps nearby is missing and the coffee pot sits empty. She sighs and pulls a bag of coffee grounds from the cupboard in preparation for brewing a new pot.

They remain wordless, letting the hissing of the coffee pot fill the silence as the liquid hits the glass with a pang and splashes as it fills, the warm aroma diffusing through the room. Leslie leans back against the counter and considers Shauna as she sits at the head of the table and looks over Leslie’s work. She’s tiny - very easy to speak over and dismiss, Leslie thinks - and she wonders how Shauna deals with men more assertive than she is undermining her to break a story first. It then dawns on her as Shauna’s baby pink nails tap on the ceramic mug that Shauna _doesn’t_ deal with it - she just shrugs somberly and moves on. Leslie’s about to reach for her abandoned mug next to Shauna when the tapping abruptly ceases and Shauna turns her attention towards her.

“Do you want to talk about something?” Leslie finally asks.

“Well, since you asked, I suppose,” Shauna replies and forces Leslie to summon all of what remains of her patience. She takes a sip of her now-cold coffee and braces herself for the rest of Shauna’s monologue. “A couple of months ago, I was feeling really down after my boyfriend broke up with me. A different one than before, I mean. And I thought to myself, ‘am I not pretty enough?’ and I thought about it, and I don’t really think that was the problem. So then I wondered if I’m not smart enough, but that didn’t seem like it, either. But instead of dwelling on it, I decided to really focus on my work.”

“That’s good, Shauna.”

“Yeah, it is,” she agrees. “And I got assigned to do a piece on the new city managers, which I thought was a bit boring, but an article’s an article. So I met with them and the assistant city manager, Ben Wyatt-”

“Ugh,” Leslie grimaces.

“-was just so sweet,” she smiles. “So I asked him if he wanted to get dinner sometime since he was new to town. Anyway, that was about three months ago. We’ve been seeing each other casually but last night we were intimate for the first time.”

“Ugh, Shauna,” Leslie chokes on her coffee with a groan. “Please spare me the details.”

“Most of it was nice. He was very kind. He stroked my hair. But…” She trails off, her eyes falling to the tabletop with a distant glaze. She suddenly snaps her head back up, meeting Leslie’s gaze with an uncharacteristic burst of confidence. “Leslie, are you sleeping with Ben?”

The mug that Leslie’s holding fumbles in her hands and she sputters, “Am-am I _what?”_

“It’s alright if you are. Really. It’s just that if you are, I want to know. Ben and I never said that we were exclusive but I don’t know if I’m the kind of girl that can be happy in a relationship if my partner is seeing someone else, you know? It just seems really hard.”

“Shauna,” Leslie snaps. The force behind her voice surprises even herself and she chastises the tiny voice within for the unidentifiable dark emotion growing in her chest. _What the hell was_ that _about, anyway?_ “We’re not sleeping together. We don’t even get along most of the time.”

She huffs and pours what remains of her drink into the sink, apparently having silenced Shauna. The insinuation really shouldn’t bother her as much as it does but now that it’s burrowed its way under her skin, she can’t get rid of it, much like an incredibly aggravating splinter. Leslie figures the reason why the question upsets her so much is the absurdity of it. She leans back against the counter again, crossing her legs at the ankles.

The last time she saw Ben, the two had gone toe to toe over the closure of the government-owned parks - Leslie all but pleading their importance to Pawnee children and families and Ben whipping out the paper ordering them closed from the top drawer of his desk, the official Pawnee seal underlaid beneath the text and Chris’s signature staring back at her, mocking her. She’d resolved to show up at Ramsett Park before they had a chance to rope it off, joined by a group of fellow dissenters. But when three o’clock rolled around, she arrived alone, her meticulously planned protest thwarted by yellow tape wrapped around the poles and trees surrounding the playground equipment. He’d sped the process up, he’d told her, because he had anticipated that she’d try something like that. He’d left right after that with a crass smile, leaving Leslie alone with a deserted park and a crushed spirit.

“Why do you think that Ben and I are sleeping together, Shauna?” Leslie finally asks when the question nags at her from the recesses of her mind one too many times. Shauna folds her hands in her lap and stares at them with newfound interest.

“He said your name last night. While we were together.”

The mug clinks against the countertop before shattering into pieces on the floor. Leslie mutters a curse under her breath.

“While you were-? Like _while_ you were-?”

Shauna nods, a wistful smile beginning to form at the corners of her mouth.

The shards of porcelain lay forgotten at Leslie’s feet at the revelation and her throat tightens. She feels the heat crawling across her chest and creeping up her neck at the thought of Ben, naked in bed, saying her name. Which almost guarantees that he’d had her on his mind in the moment, in such an intimate and vulnerable position. And, Leslie realizes with a shudder, it was likely not the first time he’d been thinking of her in that way. What truly unnerves her is the awareness that she doesn’t mind it - that when she imagines him saying it in _that_ context, it makes her cross her legs just a little tighter in response.

And then it dawns on her that in Shauna’s mind - poor beautiful, naïve, assumes-the-best-of-everyone Shauna - the only logical reason that a man would say another woman’s name in bed is because he’d recently been with her and uttered the wrong name in a momentary lapse of confusion. And, admittedly, Leslie can’t fault her for thinking that.

“I… um…” Leslie swallows, unable to make eye contact. “That’s really unfortunate. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t want to make it more awkward than it already was so I pretended that I didn’t hear him but I think he knew. I mean, he moaned it like, right next to my ear as he-”

“Okay, Shauna, please. Really.” Leslie sighs and clasps her hands together in front of herself. “I’m very sorry that that happened but I haven’t seen Ben in like, a week now. A week and a half. And even then, we aren’t together. We don’t behave well around each other and he’s made it very clear to me that he doesn’t agree with me about the importance of municipal services. Okay?”

“You’re not together?” Shauna repeats, her voice shaking with relief.

“We’re not together.”

“Okay. Gosh. I’m sorry, I just,” She beams while gathering her belongings and making her way back out towards Leslie’s front door. “You have no idea what a relief that is. Thank you, Leslie.”

“No problem, Shauna,” Leslie replies while shutting the door. It clicks shut and she falls against it, causing it to rattle in the hinges. She swallows thickly.

She needed to undo some of her revisions to her plan. Maybe he’d laugh haughtily in her face at a careless oversight in the plan’s practicality if she’s lucky.

She pushes off the door to head back to the kitchen, callous attitude and flexed, bare arms, heavy breathing and _her name_ on her mind.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Major Indiscretion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26090008) by [mouseratstan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mouseratstan/pseuds/mouseratstan)




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